I know this subject pops up time and again on this part of the forum, and I have read most of the other threads that deal with the subject.

Basically what I want (in a nutshell) is something thats easy for a first time dslr user to get to grips with quickly and obviously take good pictures with.

I will probably be doing a lot of band and concert photography so this will be in low light conditions - I know most kit lenses aren't going to deal with this in a spectacular fashion and I'm on a bit of a tight budget.

I've been looking at the Nikon D40 and the Canon 400d and they are really the main options, I've had a play wiht both cameras and I'm basically even more confused than I was before!

If you're shooting in low light, a nice bright lens is going to be very useful. So whatever system you decide upon, also look out for a 50mm f1.8 lens - they're affordable and gather much more light than standard kit zooms.

The D40 and 400D are both great cameras, although you should also consider the D40x (a 10 Mpixel version of the D40), along with models like the Olympus E-410 and E-510. Have a look at our Budget DSLR Buyers Guide for some comparisons...

You'll notice some cameras (and lenses) have anti-shake - this is really useful for taking photos in low light, but the subject itself also needs to be still - so don't buy it thinking it'll help with your concert photos! (It is useful for other stuff though)

You should also pick up each camera in person to see which looks and feels best to you - even the noises it makes are important, so press the buttons and see what you think...

Most of current in-body IS implementations (A100, E-510, K10D) let you use about 3-4 times longer shutter times (~2 EV) than w/o it, so when you need 1/150 sec (recommended at 150mm) you could get down to let's say 1/50 sec - IMO it's nice at concerts as well :).

Hi lcf, actually it's better than that - when they say 3 to 4 stops, they mean a halving of the shutter speed for each stop. So if you started at 1/150, then one stop would be 1/75, two stops would be 1/37 and three stops would be 1/18... four stops would be 1/9!

Most lens-based stabilisation systems give you the same amount of compensation though - 3 to 4 stops normally...

According to recent comparison I've read with E-510 in-body IS vs Leica 14-50 OIS results at 35mm were as follows: sharp at 1/40 sec w/o IS at all, sharp at 1/6 with OIS (almost 3 EV) and sharp at 1/20 and slightly blurred at 1/10 with E-510 in-body IS, so it doesn't make full 2 EV for me. Results in tests are described as an average from 7 to 9 shots.

It may be different story with other bodies and lenses, of course - and focal length can affect results as well, but I didn't spot any good analysis of that, though.

The D40 and D40x do not have the AF motor in the body so any lenses that need that are basically Manual Focus only. Plus the menus are to long, and often accessed settings do not have a dedicated button.

PS

I am also getting the 50mm F/1.8 lens, but remember (in case you didn't notice) it doesn't zoom, hence it is a fixed focal length lens.